Building provenance into your brand story can help add a layer of authenticity and trust with your customers that cannot be easily replicated by other brands, therefore awarding you a unique point of difference when selling and marketing your products.
A recent study from STACKLA, a Digital Marketing Leader in the US, showed that “authenticity is a key factor for 86% of consumers when deciding what brands they like and support.” And when you link authenticity with frozen yogurt, a category expected to grow at more than 4.5% per year globally by 2025, according to MORDOR Intelligence, you are pretty sure to get a winner.
In this article, we speak with Andreas MYLONAS, Exports Director from Greek frozen yogurt brand, KRI KRI, who have used their power of provenance to create a truly authentic brand and share their products with the world.
Over 70 years of experience
The KRI KRI brand dates its origins back to 1954, when George Tsinavos, the Company's Founder, opened a small pastry shop in Serres in Greece, which also produced and distributed ice cream for the town. At that time, ice cream was typically sold by street hawkers from their carts where they used ice and salt for cooling, but KRI KRI ice creams, in particular Cassata, a special kind of rich-tasting, layered ice cream made from sheep’s milk, started to become popular outside Serres.
The brand began to grow from there when the first electric freezers for ice cream made an appearance in the 1960’s. Today, almost 70 years later, the KRI KRI brand continues to grow steadily in not only their home market of Greece, but around the world. They are now the only local company in Greece that serves the Greek market with both ice cream and frozen yogurt made from authentic Greek yogurt, and still remain under Greek ownership. In 2020, KRI KRI reached sales of €120 million, growing from just €40 million in 2008!
Greek Yogurt: A Global Trend
The market size for Greek yogurt was valued at $7.2 billion in 2019 and has been predicted to reach $11.2 billion by 2027. KRI KRI are probably most well known for their authentic Greek yogurt products, as well as their unique Greek frozen yogurt. No other brand at the moment is supplying both ice cream and frozen yogurt made from authentic Greek strained yogurt.
Andreas MYLONAS, Exports Director at KRI KRI shared the reasons why he believes Greek yogurt reached trending status in recent years: “Greek yogurt is thicker and often creamier than traditional yogurt, and is also higher in protein and rich in vitamins and probiotics which fits perfectly with a lot of consumer demands for healthier, high protein products. Greek yogurt became a huge trend and we can see Greek frozen yogurt following suit.”
The Age of Authenticity
KRI KRI is the only Greek frozen yogurt producer manufacturing the yogurt in the same factory as their frozen yogurt, making sure the exact same strained yogurt they successfully market under their brand goes into their frozen yogurt as well. The straining process, which consists of removing the whey from the yogurt, ensures an even creamier texture.
“Our authenticity is our competitive advantage”, explains Andreas.
Their frozen yogurt is available in pints (4 different flavours), and in multipacks (4 sticks in a pack, coated with a peach or cherry fruit coating). KRI KRI is working on expanding the formats to cater to all potential consumers of frozen yogurt.
A Proven Recipe for Success
Once their success was established in Greece, where KRI KRI leads the Frozen Yogurt market, they set their eyes on export markets, starting with Italy: “Italians are very well-known for their high-quality ice cream so we were nervous about launching our products into that market, however last year, we entered the market with our Greek frozen yogurt and we were blown away by the results we were able to achieve, with listings in major retailers and distribution in more than 1500 point of sale locations.”
Andreas believes that the success of the brand in Italy came down to the ability to provide a high-quality frozen yogurt made with authentic Greek yogurt, which enabled them to stand out in a market where high-quality frozen dessert products are already the norm.
How can the INNODELICE network support KRI KRI’s growth?
For partners considering working with KRI KRI, due to their large range of existing products and resources, they can be very flexible when it comes to covering any needs you may request in terms of flavours, sizes, or formats, and are also open to new innovation conversations.
With regards to their Greek frozen yogurt products specifically, they are looking for exclusive distributors or brokers who are able to share marketing support, paying particular attention to those markets where Greek yogurt has been, or continues to be, a big trend, for example, in Europe and the US. Those distributors can also leverage KRI-KRI’s extensive range of ice cream and frozen desserts, which exceeds 70 SKUs.
How to start collaborating with KRI KRI Frozen yogurt?
If you would like to be introduced to the KRI KRI team, we would be happy to facilitate that introduction. You can learn more about the KRI KRI brands on the INNODELICE website here, and if you are interested in discussing potential partnership opportunities, please reach out to Nicolas on nicolas.marie@innodelice.com or Andrea on andrea.montreuil@innodelice.com.
ABOUT INNODELICE
Founded by former executives in the Ice Cream industry, INNODELICE aims to create a worldwide ecosystem of solutions within the frozen dessert industry. Thanks to the relationships fostered by INNODELICE, manufacturers, brands, importers, distributors and suppliers can discover, buy and sell solutions to GROW their business. These solutions include co-manufactured and branded products as well as innovative and competitive ingredients, packaging and services. Our collaboration model generates lower costs and fewer risks for our participating partners while optimising their time to market. To learn more about INNODELICE, contact Nicolas MARIE (nicolas.marie@innodelice.com), Andrea MONTREUIL (andrea.montreuil@innodelice.com) or visit www.innodelice.com.